Shia LaBeouf Addresses FKA Twigs Allegations: "I Hurt That Woman"

Content warning: This article discusses alleged physical, sexual and emotional abuse.

Shia LaBeouf has opened up about the allegations of physical and emotional abuse and sexual assault levelled against him by former partner FKA Twigs almost two years ago. In 2020, Twigs – who dated LaBeouf for around a year after they met during the filming of his 2019 movie Honey Boy – sued the actor for sexual battery, assault and the infliction of emotional distress.

FKA Twigs Discusses Her Allegations Against Shia LaBeouf On CBS This Morning

Among the disturbing accusations were an incident in which LaBeouf allegedly threatened to crash a car they were in if Twigs did not profess her love for him, before stopping the car to let her out before assaulting and throwing her against the vehicle. Other claims included that Twigs awoke one night to being choked by LaBeouf, and that he knowingly infected her with a sexually transmitted disease. After initially sharing a statement in which he said he had been “abusive” to those around him, and said he was “sorry to those [he] hurt”, LaBeouf later denied the allegations.

Now, as Variety reports, LaBeouf has opened up about the allegations while appearing on Jon Bernthal’s Real Ones podcast. Although he does not name Twigs directly in the episode, he says, “I hurt that woman.” He adds: “In the process of doing that, I hurt many other people, and many other people before that woman. I was a pleasure-seeking, selfish, self-centred, dishonest, inconsiderate, fearful human being.”

Elsewhere in the interview, LaBeouf admitted he was “fully aware” he had “hurt a lot of people”, saying he had a “long list of people that I need to make amends to” and that it was something he was going to “owe for the rest of my life.” He also admitted to “cheat[ing] on every woman I’ve ever been with” and didn’t tell “sexual partners about getting cold sores.” He described his accuser – again, without directly naming her – as a “saint” who “saved my fucking life” by “[creating] the avenue for me to experience ego death.”

LaBeouf, who said he had contemplated suicide in the immediate aftermath of the accusations against him, said that he feels his “purpose” now is to not emulate “the other examples that we’ve had of how to navigate something like this – which is to go after the woman, or try to win a court case, or get back into a fucking movie or like get back on at all.”

His “purpose” now, LaBeouf said, was to be “instructive with my life” so that he can be “an advertisement, like a billboard, for a principled way of living.”

LaBeouf’s comments come amid his denial that he was fired from the cast of Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling. He was set to star in the film before being replaced by Harry Styles. Wilde said during an interview that LaBeouf had “a process that, in some ways, seems to require a combative energy, and I don’t personally believe that is conducive to the best performances.” Wilde added that she believed in “creating a safe, trusting environment” and thats her “responsibility is to the production and to the cast to protect them.”

Shortly after Wilde’s claims, LaBeouf refuted her account, saying that it had been he who exited the project as he felt the actors were not being given enough time to rehearse. LaBeouf sent Variety screenshots of texts where he told Wilde he would have to back out of the film. He also reportedly included a video Wilde allegedly sent him two days after he claims to have quit the film, in which Wilde is seen driving a car and saying she is “not ready to give up on this yet” and wants to “figure this out.”